Privacy statement
This statement covers personal information managed by Upper Hutt City Council including Upper Hutt Libraries and H₂O Xtream and was last updated on 1 November 2023.
Collecting and using your information
We collect your personal information so we can:
- provide and tailor our services to you
- perform our statutory functions
- contact you
- identify you
- work out how we can help you, including training our staff and contractors
- maintain important community records
- fulfil Council’s regulatory and other legal obligation
There's certain information we need because it is required by legislation for example under the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, Building Act 2004, and the Resource Management Act 1991.
We collect information from you when you:
- talk to us over the phone (see more about our call recording below)
- meet with us
- send us emails or other correspondence or comment on our social channels
- submit applications, registrations, competition entries or any other material to us
- access our online services (more information below)
- are captured by our CCTV or body-worn cameras.
Types of information we collect include:
- Your contact details – address, telephone numbers, email
- Identification details – name, address, date of birth
- License plate numbers (for example in relation to parking infringements)
- Financial details (for example in relation to rates)
- Other information you submit to us
- Video and still images collected by our CCTV or body-worn cameras.
We also collect certain information about you from other people and organisations, including independent inspectors and the Police.
This information is used to provide services to you and fulfil our statutory obligations including:
- Rates payments and rebates
- Resource and building consents
- Dog control
- Providing library services
- Parking and road control
- Applications for licenses (liquor, food preparation, amusement devices, gambling, etc)
- Managing medical incidents or emergencies at H₂O Xtream
- Health and safety both of our staff and others when using our services or facilities
- Staff training and development.
Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) and other security cameras
We have CCTV cameras around the city. CCTV is monitored by volunteers in conjunction with Hutt City Council. CCTV recordings are retained for a period of up to 90 days before being overwritten, unless they are required to be kept by Council for longer for a legal purpose.
Some of our people use body-worn cameras (BWCs). BWCs are worn by officers to record video footage of incidents and used in Council vehicles as dash-cams. BWCs record footage when triggered to record by a user. Footage from BWCs is retained for a period of up to 60 days before being deleted, unless it is required to be kept by Council for a longer period for a legal purpose.
Information collected online
Upper Hutt City Council operates the upperhuttcity.com, upperhuttlibrary.co.nz, h2oxtream.com and letskorero.upperhuttcity.com websites.
We use cookies and other similar technologies to collect information about how you use our websites and online tools. We also collect information about you when you access our website. The types of information we collect include the:
- IP address of the device being used
- type of browser being used, eg, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox
- type of device, eg PC. laptop, phone, tablet.
If you're using one of our online services, we will also collect login information.
Public consultation and letskorero.upperhuttcity.com:
We use a service operated by Bang the Table Pty Ltd to engage with the community and carry out public consultation. When you submit through letskorero.upperhuttcity.com both we and Bang the Table have access to the information you submit. More information is available at letskorero.upperhuttcity.com/privacy.
Sharing your information
Sometimes we need to share your information with people or organisations outside of Upper Hutt City Council.
We only share information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020. This means that we share your information when:
- our reason for sharing matches the reason we collected it, or
- we have a specific legal reason, or
- you give us permission to share it; when you sign a consent form or voluntarily provide information to us.
Some examples of when we share information with other parties are:
- when we must provide information on dog registrations to the Department of Internal Affairs
- when we need to identify vehicle ownership through their license plates to issue infringement notices
- when we run competitions with other partners and you have allowed them to contact you
- when you make a submission on a District Plan change or Resource Consent application these submissions are published and available to the public
- when money is owed to Council we may engage third party debt collection agencies. We also report to Council on overdue debts and debtors.
Upper Hutt City Council is subject to freedom of information rules set out in the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987. Anyone can request official information held by Upper Hutt City Council by contacting oia.requests@uhcc.govt.nz.
Disclosures of official information may contain your personal information.
Rates information
Section 28A of Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 requires us to maintain a rating information database and to make this available to the public.
This means that name and postal address of the owner of the rating unit will be viewable on that database, which is made available at our Upper Hutt office.
You have a right to request, in writing, that your name and/or postal address be withheld from this database. You do not need to provide reasons for this request, and you can revoke this request at any time.
Call recording
We record calls made from and to our Contact Centre’s main line. Calls which are made directly to Council officers direct dial number or mobile phones, or calls which are transferred out from our Contact Centre are not recorded.
Calls to our Contact Centre may be monitored live.
Call recordings are automatically deleted after 36 months, unless we have a reason to retain them for longer.
Securing your information
We will respect your information and keep it safe. We know your information is very important and take our responsibilities seriously.
We have systems and safeguards in place to control how we collect, manage and use your information. This helps us use your information appropriately and keep it safe.
Our systems are secure and only people that need to use your personal information will have access to it. This includes when we store your information in archives or electronically in cloud computing systems.
Our staff are trained in the appropriate use of information and are aware of how to keep information secure.
Information is stored and retained in accordance and compliance with relevant legislation.
Official information requests
Upper Hutt City Council is subject to freedom of information rules set out in the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987. Anyone can request official information held by Upper Hutt City Council by contacting oia.requests@uhcc.govt.nz.
Disclosures of official information may contain your personal information.
Managing your information
If you want to see your personal information, you can ask us for it. This includes applications you've made, and documents you've provided to us.
We will manage this request according to the requirements of the Privacy Act 2020.
To ask us for your information, you need to contact privacy@uhcc.govt.nz or visit us in person.
If your information is not correct, you can ask us to update it.
We can make simple changes, e.g. factual errors, quickly and let you know when we've done it.
If the change is more complicated, or we do not agree with the change, you have the right to make a statement of correction. A statement of correction is a letter telling us:
- what you are correcting
- what information is incorrect
- why the information is incorrect.
The statement of correction will be attached to the original information so that they can be read together.
Questions and support
If you have a question about the information we hold, or a concern about how we've handled your information, you can email our Privacy Officer at privacy@uhcc.govt.nz
If you would like to make a complaint, you can email our Privacy Officer at privacy@uhcc.govt.nz